Appellation
Muscat du Cap Corse
Identity card
RegionalAOPFortified
Corsica · Recognised on 19 November 1997
Key points
- Fortified with neutral spirit of 96%+ vol. before 31 Dec of the harvest year.
- Grapes of at least 252 g/l sugar; at most 30 hl of must per hectare.
- At least 90 g/l of sugar; 15 to 18% acquired alcohol.
Grape varieties
Production rules
30
hl/ha
Maximum yield
15
% ABV
Minimum natural alcohol
4,000
vines/ha
Minimum planting density
- Maximum yield
- How much wine a hectare may produce under the appellation (a higher, exceptional ceiling often exists). The lower it is, the less can be made: one of the levers on how concentrated the grapes are.
- Minimum natural alcohol
- The alcohol the grapes' own sugar must be able to give, without enrichment: a ripeness threshold at harvest.
- Minimum planting density
- The fewest vines allowed per hectare. For the same yield, more vines means fewer grapes on each.
Terroir
- Lie of the land: The Cap Corse peninsula and the Gulf of Saint-Florent
- Soils: Mostly schist; limestone around Patrimonio
- Climate: Libeccio nearly 200 days a year; 2,475 h of sun at Ersa
Wine style
- Quince
- citrus
- light bitterness
- very long finish
Boundaries: INAO, AOC vineyard plot delimitation (September 2026 edition) · Open Licence
Specification
28 June 2011
Décret n° 2011-781 du 28 juin 2011 relatif à l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Muscat du Cap Corse » (JORF n°0150 du 30 juin 2011), dont l'annexe homologue le cahier des charges, abrogeant le décret n°2009-1231 du 13 octobre 2009 pour ce qui concerne cette appellation. Appellation initialement reconnue par le décret du 19 novembre 1997. Version consolidée toujours en vigueur au 28 septembre 2026 (aucune modification recensée depuis 2011).
Labelling terms
- "Vin doux naturel" compulsory on the label
Nearby appellations
Sources
- Official sourceDécret n° 2011-781 du 28 juin 2011 relatif à l'appellation d'origine contrôlée « Muscat du Cap Corse » (texte consolidé, annexe : cahier des charges)— Légifrance / Ministère de l'agriculture
A white vin doux naturel, made from the sole variety muscat à petits grains B, produced across seventeen communes of the Cap Corse peninsula. Recognition began in the early 1960s but only succeeded on 19 November 1997, after a process the text itself calls "rich in ups and downs". A confidential output — 90 hectares and 1,910 hectolitres in 2008, from 24 estates — on steep hillsides swept by the libeccio, which blows there close to two hundred days a year.
Mini-challenge
Muscat du Cap Corse
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